GlaxoSmithKline employees in China have confessed to bribing doctors and government officials to increase sales of medicine, authorities said yesterday.

Staff at the pharmaceutical company offered doctors, government officials, hospitals and medical associations inducements to increase the market for its drugs and raise prices, the Ministry of Public Security said.

They also ordered travel agencies to issue false tax receipts to finance their “criminal activities” and accepted bribes of their own, officials said.

Yesterday’s notice is the first confirmation from Beijing that it is investigating the drugs maker after authorities raided offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Changsha last week, seizing